Todays+Meet

We tried using Todays meet as a class when students were working on a project in computer class. As they were finished they were asked to go to Todays Meet and talk about what they had worked on. It was a lot of fun to see how each student was actively engaged in the conversation. Some students were able to be part of multiple conversations while others only added comments occasionally. The thing I was most impressed with is that they were all using their voice, but nobody was talking. Initially it was rather silly because they just typed gibberish as though they were surprised that what they typed ended up on someone else's computer. Eventually they settled down and got on task.We have also used Tinychat which is a little more like a traditional chatroom. There are good things and bad things about this. The private message feature is a nice addition, but you run into inappropriate comments. We are actually planning on doing a Today's meet with a school near Hamlin once the DSTEP test finishes. I have also contacted my brother-in-law in China about possibly doing a collaboration assignment with his students. Possibly even setting up a Chat time, but that will have to be outside of school.

We tried using todays meet today and it was a little frustrated initially. Students were split up into groups and were to write a story each student was allotted the 140 characters and then had to submit for the next person in the group. Once the connection improved students were really engaged and seemed to enjoy it. This also helped students that struggled with writing to get additional ideas and improve their writing.